


A Matter of Efficiency

by RainofLittleFishes



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: (Uncle Chewie does not approve of either), Emperor Hux, Extremely Dubious Consent, Hux wins, Kink Meme, Kylo is a clone, Leia Does Not Deserve This Shit, M/M, Not to be confused with the Garbage Ship, Now boarding the Trash Ship, Star Wars Canon: The Seductive Power of A Great Hairdo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 10:25:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5865835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainofLittleFishes/pseuds/RainofLittleFishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kink Meme Prompt: </p><p>Kylo Ren is not Ben Solo.</p><p>The real Ben Solo was kidnapped by Snoke at a young age, and replaced with a clone into the house of Organa-Solo, coded to do his master's bidding.</p><p>Hux wonders how the master of the Knights of Ren keeps on coming back from what appeared to be deadly situations.</p><p>He doesn't. A new clone is sent out each time the old one dies due to his careless and aggressive nature.</p><p>When Snoke finally lay dead...Emperor Hux finds Ben Solo. Soft, socially withdrawn/inept, physically crippled, but so very force-sensitive Ben Solo. How nice it is to have a useful mind-reading pet, with the face of a man he hated, obedient and pliant at his feet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Efficiency

**Author's Note:**

  * For [5ofSpades](https://archiveofourown.org/users/5ofSpades/gifts).



> original prompt here:  
> https://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/1841.html?thread=3660081#cmt3660081

 

Brendol Hux has never liked Kylo Ren. He is unpredictable (too predictable, in a way) and, worse, _inefficient_.

Hux does not mind that he is dangerous, or destructive, Hux is fond of both attributes, if not their corporal manifestation, but he also demands _control_ , and _Kylo Ren is the very definition of uncontrolled_.

When Snoke commanded he return with Ren’s broken but breathing body, he complied, still reeling with the shock of how badly events had turned from their moment of triumph, but as time passed in their transit he began to think again and realized something quite immutable. Snoke is _inefficient_. He cares more for the complete subjugation of Kylo Ren than for the massive loss of resources. He cares more about _one tool_ than the entire First Order, the entire _Empire_.

What was the purpose of destroying five populated planets if no one even follows up by enforcing order? There is a limited timeframe for action, when the public is shocked and compliant, before seeds of dissent infect the narrative. Perhaps selfishly, Hux resents being _used_ to carry out such an ultimately wasteful project. He finds it blatantly offensive, an insult to what should have been the ultimate goal, restoration of order.

This will not _do_.

Hux can appreciate the idea of the complete subjugation of Kylo Ren, but it has never been _efficient_. At least not previously... By the time they make planetfall, he has convinced Kylo Ren to assist him, and Snoke, for all his power, falls to two of his tools. Ren dies in the attempt, but he serves his purpose well.

Hux pets the soft human face behind the stamping and tantrums and closes those long-lashed eyelids once the last breath rattles its way free into the Dark atmosphere. He pushes the corpse from his lap and sets out to explore this innermost retreat of their former master. What he finds is most _enlightening_.

No wonder Kylo Ren has been harder to kill than a cockroach. No wonder Snoke was so desperate to get him back. He was _the last clone_. And now all that’s left is the original, Ben Solo, with the same odd features and needy eyes, now downcast (always downcast), but paired, oh so perfectly, with a soft, _obedient_ mien.

Ben Solo has been captive for years, beaten, constrained, crippled in ways more than the physically obvious. Hux has freed him from his master, his abuser, the orderer of his life. Hux does not have to be kind to be _efficient_.

Hux takes the throne, takes the reins, takes what he wants and _reigns_ , still measured, still _efficient_ and he _restores order_.

At his side, always at his side, is a limping figure, almost his height but for the bowed head, and if all knew to fear the Knights of Ren, it takes little time for the galaxy to learn a new fear. For when Emperor Hux instructs his right hand as to his requirements, his shadow leaves his side, and someone bleeds. Blood, or secrets, or concessions in a treaty or contract, someone bleeds.

When Hux holds court from his throne, his shadow stands silent by his side. When Hux allows a few, a very few (but one cannot run an empire alone, alas) direct reports to socialize with him in his private (public) quarters, his quiet shadow sits at his feet. If the emperor is especially pleased, his shadow ventures so far as to rest a head against his thigh, and the emperor conveys his favor and trust with an ungloved hand resting upon that head. (Hux found early on, that the one thing to be missed in the transition from unreliable clone to vulnerable original was the loss of those inefficient and yet compellingly soft locks of hair. Ben Solo has not been allowed to crop his hair once it outgrew that shaven state in which his first master kept it.)

When they are _truly_ alone, Hux allows his pet to venture further into his lap, into his care and attention. (In truth, he is never far from Hux’s attention, but Hux requires efficiency first of himself, and if his pet knows how well Hux regards him through means unspoken, it does nothing further than cement his loyalty.) Ben Solo is so soft, so agreeable, so very lonely from years of misuse that he latched on to Hux without reserve and made himself anew, makes himself anew to Brendol’s every need.

He amuses himself in their bedroom games, with pushing, gently, some things need a delicate touch, into and past Ben’s discomfort with people, with his shame for giving himself freely to Snoke, with his awkwardness in his own body and mind, crippled and ungainly, features still vulnerable, beautifully lopsided.

Hux can take Ben’s shame and carry it for him, all Ben need do is obey him in everything. He takes a recording once, of Ben in his lap, working to please his master, his emperor, and if there is little flesh showing but the nakedness of faces and hands, the nakedness of Ben’s mobile features, well, perhaps it will anger General Organa enough to enliven their currently stalled negotiations.

Snoke was always shortsightedly inefficient.


End file.
